A total of 35 Filipinos from war-torn Gaza are arriving in the Philippines on Friday afternoon, ending their month-long ordeal of waiting to be able to flee from the heavy bombardments on the Palestinian territory.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday, Nov. 9, that 35 of 40 Filipinos who were able to cross to Egypt from Gaza on Tuesday's short border opening will arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the afternoon via Qatar Airways.
Meanwhile, five Filipinos will remain in Egypt. The three of them is a mother and her two children who wish to stay in Egypt with her Egyptian husband, while the two is a 38-week pregnant woman and her relative.
"Although may (she has) medical clearance to fly, we're not sure she'll be allowed to board. In that case, aalagaan sya (they will take care of her) while she remains in Egypt," Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega told reporters
That means that only 35 of the 40 Filipinos who crossed to Egypt on Tuesday will be arriving in Manila over the weekend. They will be joined by one Palestinian, who is a spouse of one of them, de Vega said.
Before the war between Israel and Hamas broke out, there were 137 Filipinos in Gaza. Two of them, who were medical workers belonging to humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, managed to depart on Nov. 1 during the first border opening.
As of Thursday, Nov. 9, there are still 95 Filipinos in Gaza. According to de Vega, 19 of them still do not want to leave despite Israel's continued bombardment on the territory that has reportedly claimed the lives of around 10,000 people there.
"They feel like leaving Gaza will be like allowing the Israelis, in their mind, to depopulate Gaza. Parang ayaw nilang mawala Palestinians sa (They don't want Palestinians to be displaced from) Gaza. Of course, that's only speculation," de Vega said when asked what might be the reasons why some prefer to remain.
"Maybe, they have no relatives here," he added.
De Vega said the Philippine government is expecting that more Filipinos will be willing to be repatriated after authorities already allowed Palestinians to join them in leaving Gaza.
So far, 16 Palestinian spouses of Filipinos have already been given clearance to exit; while the status of the remaining remains uncertain.
The Filipino repatriates will be given assistance by the Philippine government once they arrive in the country. De Vega believed they will not permanently stay in the Philippines and will want to return to Gaza once hostilities end.
The border opening did not come smoothly. It took time before the opening of humanitarian corridor was granted by concerned governments, particularly by Israel and Egypt, and it was even postponed twice on Sunday and Monday.
As of Wednesday, Nov. 8, at least 131 Filipinos from other countries or areas affected by Israel-Hamas war either have already been repatriated by the Philippine government or are set to be repatriated.
A big chunk of the figure consists of those who came from Israel. A total of 102 overseas Filipinos from Israel had already arrived in Manila.
Meanwhile, nine Filipinos from Lebanon, where fear of hostilities between Israel and local terrorist group Hezbollah is looming, already arrived in the country and 18 more are coming.
The Philippine government repatriated on Wednesday two Filipinos from the West Bank, another Palestinian territory separated from Gaza, after they already arrived in the neighboring country of Jordan.
Four Filipinos were confirmed dead following Hamas' surprise assault on Israel on Oct. 7. Two remain missing and are believed to have been taken as hostages.
"Supposedly, there are international negotiations (on their release). I cannot confirm or comment," de Vega said.